The Tampa Bay area's two daily newspapers are filled with the latest update on the USF funding imbroglio, in their A sections as well as on their editorial pages.
Following the lead of Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe's personal letter to Senate President Mike Haridopolos, the Tampa Tribune is now calling for the removal of the Lake Wales Republican as chairman of the budget committee for his ham-fisted attack on the Tampa campus, manifested by the threat of a 58 percent cut in state funding. (That cut has already been reduced; the budget committee on Wednesday restored $25 million in costs related to the creation of a new university in Polk County.)
But perhaps folks in the Tampa Bay area are protesting too much. I mean, look how it's bringing people together in the community! Heck, after Jim Norman pressed Senator Evelyn Lynn, chair of the higher education appropriations committee, he even won some praise in the editorial pages of the Tampa Bay Times!
Most interestingly, former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has taken to the op-ed pages as well to weigh in.
This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2012.